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Comment by dmckeon | Hacker News Reader

The US taxpayers, thru their government, could just do a buy out of Intuit/TurboTax for under $4 billion, and make the software free to use as part of a transition process.

Any Intuit employees who at competent at tax preparation could be employed by the IRS, which takes in 4-6 dollars for every 1 dollar it costs. Win/win. Would never happen.

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I trust Intuit more than the US government to provide a service like that. Have you ever used a US government web form? Who do you trust more, UPS or USPS?

Don't get me wrong, I don't support their monopoly. The only real solution is to move away from such a complex tax system and do things European style (no tax return).

Well making nice forms and services costs money. If the agency does not have that no nice front end.

Dealing with botched tax returns, late filings and court cases also costs money.

Here in Australia (as in other countries mentioned in this thread) filing taxes on the government-provided website is super easy. Wait a few weeks to a couple of months after the start of the financial year and most of the fields will be pre-filled from employers, banks, investment accounts, and IIRC private health (if any). Just need to fill in deductions and hit Submit. I don't see any technical reason the US government couldn't build something similar.

I actually trust USPS a lot more than UPS. They're a fantastic service, and my opinion isn't unique. The USPS is America's most trusted federal service and 74% of people think they do an "excellent" job. [1] I agree.

In fact, USPS is ranked as a "more trusted brand" than UPS in surveys (#1 vs #8 nationwide respectively). [2]

[1] https://news.gallup.com/poll/257510/postal-service-americans...

[2] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/people-trust-amazon-and-go...

Whenever someone says USPS is great, my mind immediately jumps to Newman trying to indict Seinfeld for mail fraud.

Also, "Because the mail never stops..."

It is easy to cherry pick, how about the DMV? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/20/nyregion/nj-mvc-lines-dmv...

Have you ever been to USCIS or the US SSA?

DMV in WA is fine, more private companies should run that way.

It doesn't matter, as it seems you'll just keep throwing three letter agencies at the wall until something sticks.

Yeah, my personal experience lines up with that - it varies a lot from place to place. Los Gatos DMV isn't half bad. Downtown SF on the other hand is an experience all its own.

USCIS is a fun one, I've actually had nothing but great experiences with them in person. It's clear they're underfunded and under-resourced, likely because (as with the patent office and state department) they operate on a cost recover basis. As such, they are required to make up 100% of their budget from user fees and there's only so much blood you can squeeze from that stone.

They're clearly not set up for success, between their funding model and their role as a bureaucratic obstacle course to keep prospective immigrants out of America. That however isn't their fault (the blame lies with Congress in defining their mandate) and I've found the people I've met in person both friendly and effective civil servants.

The MA state free online tax forms are about as easy to use as Turbotax.

US Digital Service and GSA 18f have been doing good stuff for the government for over a decade.

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